Current Affairs 5th January 2019

Current Affairs 5th January 2019 - Important Points

• China’s Chang’e 4 probe makes historic touchdown in -  Lunar exploration mission
• NASA’s New Horizon spaceship flew past - Ultima Thule
• Pakistan’s Provincial Government declares Panj Tirath Hindu religious site as - National heritage
• 106th Session of Indian Science Congress Inaugurated by - Indian PM Narendra Modi 
• New Delhi World Book Fair organised at - Pragati Maidan
• Who has honoured with National Nritya Shiromani award ? - Anindita Neogy Anaam 
• Parliament passes Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018 on - 3rd January 2018
• FSSAI notifies new food packaging norms, asks food businesses to comply with norms by - 1st July, 2019

Current Affairs 5th January 2019 - Details

China’s Chang’e 4 probe makes historic touchdown in -  Lunar exploration mission

China’s Chang’e 4 probe spaceship has become the 1st spaceship to land on the far side of the moon.
Chang’e 4 is a Chinese lunar exploration mission that intends to attain soft-landing on the far side of the
Moon. The mission goals to deliver samples of Moon rock and soil to Earth.
More about the Mission

• For the 1st time, there would be soft-landing on the far side of the Moon. China’s mission consists of a static lander & rover.
• The rover will touch down on the Von Kármán crater, situated on the side of the Moon which never faces Earth.
• During the landing, the probe will slope on thrusters & touch down on the rocky terrain of the lunar far side.
• The landers will benefit in characterising the region’s geology & the structure of rock & soil.
• Chang’e-4’s instruments would inspect whether the impression which created the South Pole Aitken Basin has punched through the crust down to the Moon’s mantle layer.
• This will shack light on the early history of our only natural satellite.
• The Chang’e-4 mission will also characterise the ‘radio environment’ on the far side to lay the
  groundwork for the formation of future radio astronomy telescopes on the far side, which is isolated from the radio noise of Earth.
• To learn the respiration of the seeds & the photosynthesis on the Moon, the static lander is carrying a container with potato & Arabidopsis plant seeds to perform a biological trial.
• The lander will send the information through the satellite Queqiao of China.

NASA’s New Horizon spaceship flew past - Ultima Thule

The New Horizon Spaceship has hovered past Ultima Thule, a trans-Neptunian entity located in the
Kuiper belt. This character a new foundation in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt
region.
Discoveries about Ultima Thule

• Ultima Thule- TOO-lee, has 2 reddish globes combined by a narrow neck.
• Ultima Thule is 6.4 billion kms from Earth.
• Ultima Thule is rotating like a propeller.
  New Horizon Mission
• New Horizon Mission is an inter-planetary space probe share of NASA’s New Frontiers program.
• The New Horizon was released in 2006 to with the prime mission to perform a fly by study of
  the Pluto system in 2015.
• The secondary mission to fly by & study 1 or above other Kuiper belt objects.
• The New Horizons mission was intended at getting insights about the edge of our solar system by making the 1st reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto & by offering deeper into the distant, enigmatic Kuiper Belt which is a relic of solar system establishment.

Pakistan’s Provincial Government declares Panj Tirath Hindu religious site as - National heritage

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- KP provincial government of Pakistan has announced the ancient Hindu
religious site of Panj Tirath in Peshawar of North-Western Pakistan as National Heritage.
The Directorate of Archaeology & Museums of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has released a notification under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Antiquities Act 2016 announcing the land in the Panj Tirath Park as a heritage land.
Significance of the Site

• Panj Tirath got its name from the 5 pools of water in the site which also has a temple.
•  As per to the epic of Mahabharat, the mythical king Pandu gone to this area & Hindus were coming to these pools for bathing during the auspicious month of Karteek & worship for 2 days under the trees.

106th Session of Indian Science Congress Inaugurated by - Indian PM Narendra Modi 

Indian PM Narendra Modi brought the inaugural address at the 106th session of the Indian Science
Congress. The 106th Indian Science Congress is being organised at Jalandhar. The subject of the 106th
science congress is “Future India: Science & Technology”.
Reflecting on the subject of “Future India: Science & Technology”, Prime Minister Modi said that he
would like to augment Jai Anusandhan to previous PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s famous slogan of Jai Jawan,
Jai Kisan & Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Jai Vigyan. He gave the country a new slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan &Jai Anusandhan”.
Indian Science Congress

• Indian Science Congress is held by the Indian Science Congress Association on yearly basis in the 1st week of January. 
• The Indian Science Congress Association was initiated in the year 1914 in Kolkata & has a membership of above 30000 scientists.
• The 2 British chemists, namely, Professor J.L.Simonsen &Professor P.S.MacMahon believed that scientific research in India might be inspired if a yearly meeting of Research workers, slightly on the lines of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, could be planned.
• This directed to the formation of the Indian Science Congress Association & the yearly session of the Indian Science Congress.

New Delhi World Book Fair organised at - Pragati Maidan

The New Delhi World Book Fair will be organised at the Pragati Maidan. The subject of the 27th edition
of the New Delhi World Book Fair is ‘Readers with special needs.’ The United Arab Emirate’s 3rd largest
emirate Sharjah is the guest of honour for the New Delhi World Book Fair.
New Delhi World Book Fair

• The New Delhi World Book Fair would be initiated by the Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar.
• The subject ‘Readers with special needs’ has been selected to produce emotions of not sympathy but respect & equality.
• A high-class exhibition of Braille books, audio books, integrated print-braille books & books for people & children with different incapacities will be exhibited in the Fair’s theme pavilion.
• An International Disability Film Festival ‘We Care’ has also been planned where 45 films from 27
  nations would be screened.
• To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, an exhibition of books on and by Gandhi ji & his acquaintances will also be showcased at the book fair.

Who has honoured with National Nritya Shiromani award ? - Anindita Neogy Anaam 

Kathak exponent Anindita Neogy Anaam has been bestowed with the prestigious National Nritya Shiromani award for her contribution towards preserving & encouraging the dance form worldwide. The award was deliberated during the 10th Cuttack Mahotsav- International Dance & Music festival.
Cuttack Mahotsav: International Dance & Music Festival
The Cuttack Mahotsav is an International Dance & Music festival planned by Utkal Yuva Sanskrutik
Sangh, in association with the state government’s department of Odia language.
Anindita Neogy Anaam

• United States-based Kathak exponent Anindita Neogy Anaam has been proficient under Pandit Rajendra Gangani & Pandit Jaikishan Maharaj.
• She has accustomed herself with both Jaipur & Lucknow Gharana of the art-form. 
• She has been bestowed the National Nritya Shiromani award for her contribution towards
  preserving & encouraging the Kathak dance form around the world.

Parliament passes Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018 on - 3rd January 2018

The Indian Parliament on January 3rd, 2018 sanctioned the Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018 that pursues to do away with the no-detention policy in schools.
The motive to pass the bill was acknowledged by voice vote in the upper house of the Rajya Sabha. Union minister for Human Resources Development Prakash Javadekar’s initiative to amend the name of the bill to imitate that it was approved in 2019 was also accepted by voice vote. The Lok Sabha had already approved the bill in July 2018.
Significance

The legislation is noteworthy as it brings responsibility in the elementary education system. The proposal acknowledged the support of a majority of state governments. 
RTE modification Bill: Important Provisions 

• The Bill pursues to modify the Right to Education- RTE Act to abolish the “no-detention” policy in schools.
• Under the present provisions of the Act, none of student can be held up to class VIII. 
• According to the modification, it would be left to the states to resolve whether to continue the no-detention policy.
• This Bill has been studies by a Parliamentary standing committee, which also suggested bringing back the concept of detention in schools.
• The policy has been introduced back as it was realised that compelling children to replicate a class was demotivating, often compelling them to abandon school.
• The bill provides for regular exam in classes V &VIII,  if a child fails, the amendment bill endowments a provision to give her/him extra opportunity to take a re-examination within 2 months.
• Such children will be issued with 2 months remedial coaching to perform better in the next examinations.
• If the students still do not clear the exam, the state government may choose to detain them.

FSSAI notifies new food packaging norms, asks food businesses to comply with norms by - 1st July, 2019

The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India- FSSAI, on January 3rd, 2019 advised the new food packaging regulations, substituting all provisions regarding the packaging necessities arranged in the Food Safety & Standards (Packaging & Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
While informing the new packaging standards, the regulator asked food businesses to conform with new guidelines by 1st July 2019. The new norms bar the usage of recycled plastics & newspapers to wrap food articles.
Crucial Points

• The norms forbid packaging material made of re-cycled plastics including carry bags for packaging, storing, carrying/dispensing food items. 
• Considering that the inks &dyes may result into formation of Cancer, the guidelines also ban the usage of newspaper & such other materials for packing/wrapping of food articles.
• The new guidelines also prescribe overall migration & specific migration limits of pollutants for plastic packaging materials.
• It requires the suggestive list of packaging materials to be utilised for different food product groups. 
• The norms state respective Indian standard for printing inks to be utilised on food packages. 
• The packaging materials utilised for packing/storing the food products should assure to the Indian standards provided in the schedules.